Just Unveiled: Has Hot Wheels created a new off-road wheel?

A perusal through a nearby Smith’s, our area’s Kroger affiliate, uncovered some brand new 9-packs, and there were a few things of note. Some new colors, some new exclusives, but of most interest was this:

Not, not the awesome 240Z above, but the yellowish/orange-ish Mega Duty. Has anyone seen those rims before? We sure haven’t. It looks like some new wheels, and they are most welcome.

Until now, we have had two plastic wheel options. These outdated and way-too-goofy wheels:

And these more modern wheels:

The more modern off-road wheel is very nice, but it doesn’t look good on everything. On the Tundra casting, absolutely, but on a more vintage pickup like the ’87 Toyota? Not so much.

It looks like these new wheels will be a happy medium:

More realistic than the old wheel, and not as modern as the new. We anticipate we will see these on a lot of new models in the coming months. It looks like the Mega Duty gets to show them off first…

12 thoughts on “Just Unveiled: Has Hot Wheels created a new off-road wheel?”

I thought they had new wheels coming for the latest release of the Enforcer based on the preview artwork at HotWheels.com. When the actual car came out I was disappointed to see the old lame wheels. But I wonder if they'll do a running change now that the new wheels are available.

My favorite Hot Wheels off-road tire was the construction tire. One thing that they seem to forget in their newer off-road wheels is that you need a bit more sidewall for off-roading than for street driving. Low profile tires are typically not a good choice in the dirt. This new one is a slight improvement that way, but Matchbox still has far better offerings for off-road tires.

I myself like the old Construction tire, the old Matchbox off-road wheels that were used on some Hot Wheels after the acquiring of Tyco, the newer 5-spokes, and especially the off-road Real Riders.

My view is, anyone with a steady hand, a drill ,a Dremel with a grinding wheel screwed on the mandrel (in the case of metal bases, as sometimes axles are crimped into place), and a model with great wheels that doesn't look so great itself can change the wheels.

In general though, these wheels aren't as ugly as the current off-road wheel, but are still ugly.